Charles Manson family member who admitted stabbing heiress on his orders is denied parole

Remorse: Patricia Krenwinkel, a Manson family member, has been denied parole over her conviction for the notorious killings

A Charles Manson follower has been ordered to remain in prison after parole board officials rejected her claim she was a changed woman.

The two-member panel said the viciousness and notoriety of Patricia Krenwinkel's crimes outweighed her efforts at rehabilitation behind bars.

Krenwinkel, now 63, wept and apologised during the hearing, but officials said the deaths of seven people in the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders 'remained relevant'.

Susan Melanson, parole commissioner, said: 'This is a crime children grow up hearing about. These crimes are relevant.'

Ms Melanson and deputy Steven Hernandez refused Krenwinkel's parole bid and made her ineligible for reconsideration for another seven years - the longest handed down so far to any Manson family convict.

She has spent four decades behind bars - making her the longest incarcerated woman in the California prison system.

Krenwinkel said: 'I'm just haunted each and every day by the unending suffering of the victims, the enormity and degree of suffering I've caused.'

She told the hearing she entered a downward spiral in life after meeting Manson and that 'everything that was good and decent in me I threw away'.

Officials commended her for self-improvement and community service during her incarceration at the California Institution for Women.

But they dismissed her explanation that she was seeking approval from Manson by following his orders to kill.

Cult: Krenwinkel, centre, has been in jail for four decades - the longest a woman has been incarcerated in California

'The panel finds it hard to believe a person can participate in this level of crimes and can't identify anything but "I wanted him to love me",' Ms Melanson said.

Anthony Di Maria, the nephew of Jay Sebring who was killed along with Tate, said: 'If Patricia Krenwinkel has remorse, I don't see how she could walk into this room.

'No punishment could atone for the cold-blooded murders in this case.'

Krenwinkel was convicted along with Charles Manson and two other female followers in the seven murders.

One of her co-defendants, Susan Atkins, died from cancer last year. She was refused compassionate release.

Krenwinkel admitted that she chased down and stabbed heiress Abigail Folger 28 times at the Tate home on August 9, 1969, and participated in the stabbing deaths of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca the following night.

Both homes were defaced with bloody scrawlings.

She was convicted, along with Manson, Leslie Van Houten and Atkins. Another defendant, Charles 'Tex' Watson, was convicted in a separate trial.

All were sentenced to death after a nine-month trial, which was commuted to life when the U.S. Supreme Court briefly outlawed the death penalty in 1972.

None of those convicted has ever been paroled, with boards citing the viciousness and calculation of the murders.

Manson, now 75, refused to appear at his most recent parole hearings where he was denied release.